Chitosan-chondroitin sulfate and chitosan-hyaluronate polyelectrolyte complexes: biological properties.

In this work, we compare some biological properties of a highly deacetylated chitosan to those obtained with the materials made from its polyelectrolyte complexes with various GAG's such as chondroitin-sulfates and hyaluronic acid. The hydrolysis of the complexes by means of the specific hydrolytic enzymes is studied. Cell-adhesion and cell-proliferation on these materials is compared to that obtained with a pure chitosan material. Finally, a series of in vivo experiments is performed to test the wound-healing properties of this kind of complexes. All the results agree to show that chitosan has a protective effect against GAG's hydrolysis by their specific enzymes but only at pH's different from the optimal pH of the enzyme considered. In addition, they also agree to confirm that a pure chitosan material gives the best results in connection with cell-attachment and cell-proliferation or wound healing. Nevertheless, whatever the case, no adverse effect was observed with the polyelectrolyte complexes GAG's-chitosan.